The Weird & Wonderful Mind of Nikola Tesla

The Bizarre Mind of Nikola Tesla

[intro]Nikola Tesla, a well renowned and respected physicist born in Smiljan, Croatia, in the 1800s, and contributed greatly to the world of physics, engineering, and development of science. These include but are not limited to: A.C. electric power, the hydro-electric power plant at Niagara Falls, the diffusion of power without using wires, an early electric car, his famous works with Albert Einstein, and many more inventions. Although the numerous inventions of Nikola Tesla have been the most available written works about him, easily accessible to students in text books and studies at Universities, his psychological struggles were also plentiful, and should not go without mention.[/intro]

Social Shortcomings

Many people know of Nikola Tesla by the tangible contributions he has made, contributions which have impacted the world’s development, such as electricity, radio, and magnetic engineering, which many now see as the essential mechanisms life. While the genius mind of Nikola Tesla had many rewarding elements in which the human race has reaped massively positive gains, Tesla himself ultimately lacked business and social expertise, or strategies for profitable gain, as were produced by his counterparts such as Edison.

Ruminations of Tesla

Many people also do not realize that Tesla’s psychological struggles included components that psychiatrists today would analyze as obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), a disorder that is classified today as a constituent on the Autism Spectrum Disorders. The bizarre mind of Tesla was privy to the number three for unknown reasons. For example, Tesla made a point to start his productivity at 3:00 every day. He frequently stayed in hotels, but only if the hotel rooms were of a number that were divisible by three. He repeatedly washed his hands to ward off germs that were also his obsession, by multiple of three, of course. He would never use the same towel more than once. Counting steps were also an unavoidable element of Tesla’s OCD type behaviors.

There is one characteristic of Tesla that scientists have yet to claim scientific explanations for in this century, and that is Tesla’s amazing heightened sensory side. Apparently Tesla could sense or ‘hear’ sounds from unfathomable distances away which would seem impossible based on the average human hearing range or brain for that matter. Unheard of, unfathomable, and simply disregarded as humanly possible by many. This level of sensory ability was possible by the scientific mind of Nikola Tesla.

While not said to posses superhero powers, it is unheard of that any average human hearing range or mind could possibly process or hear a small clock ticking from a large distance away, or a basic thunderstorm from over 500 miles away. In fact, hearing is actually an understatement of his ability to sense things, because not only was his auditory system hyper-stimulated or enhanced, but he also experienced other neurological stimulations.

A Heightened Mental State

As Tesla grew into his midlife phase, however his ideas seemed to become more peculiar than scientific. The abstractness of his thinking was genuinely unfathomable at this point, such as his claims to be networking with other planets, and his work on a death ray that would protect American citizens from alien invasions. Many people may be unaware about the underlying factors of Tesla’s mental state and his mind, the quirks and bizarre entities that took place, which were a drive for Tesla’s successes, as well as a hindrance to his sanity and gave reference and rise to the mad scientist moniker.

He claimed he could travel, within his mind to other places around the world, where he would actually interact with other individuals who were real to him. One may philosophically proposition that this was a devised method of the bizarre mind of Nikola Tesla to compensate for his social struggles in real life or some futuristic view of time traveling . Or was this just a form of hallucinating, or a mere symptom of Schizophrenia?

It is quite possible he was able to use a higher percentage of the human brain’s capacity. After all, aren’t bizarre ways of thinking an essential piece of the genius mind? Let’s face it. Most people don’t have the mental ability to think like people such as Tesla, and society needs them in order to apply imagination at such a profound level.

Perhaps the bizarre mind of Nikola Tesla should not be observed as a disorder, but rather an incredibly enhanced form of the imagination, or intelligence akin to Alien technology, a piece of Tesla’s increased sensations which are nothing less than incredible, rather than incredulous. The bizarre mind of Nikola Tesla was a miraculous work of art.

Later Years

While harboring an impeccable memory and explicit imagination with a profound level of intelligence, Nikola Tesla created astounding inventions which were serviceable to individuals and society. However, his social connections to the public appeared to start and end from behind the scenes.

Although Nikola lived well into his 80’s, a very long life for his time, it was also a life filled with isolation. He desired to eat alone, rather than with others, and avoided social events, societies or clubs; in fact it was obvious that Mr. Tesla came up short when trying to make effective social connections. He saw social interaction as a distraction to his work. Additionally, his undeniable fear of touch refrained him from developing any intimate relationship, and he remained a celibate an unmarried man throughout his entire life.

Bizarrely in fact, Tesla’s closest interpersonal relationship was with a bird, not a human: pigeons, which he depicted as supernatural beings. He ultimately passed away, leaving no written will for family or friends. In addition, what Tesla did leave behind were his ideas and inventions, rather than monetary gains, as he struggled to earn a decent living when he could have acquired much financial gain from his impeccable imagination

Although people today would label Tesla’s personality characteristics with disorders such as Autism, Schizophrenia, or OCD, using diagnostic methods of today, there are also mystifying pieces of Tesla to ponder, which are in lieu of the intelligence we all have come to respect and appreciate in science. But despite his social inadequacies, the bizarre but brilliant mind of Tesla should not fall short of recognition and gratitude from all of us.